


Drying Out

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2017 Stories and Requests [14]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Undertale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 08:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13291140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Young Alphys knew how it goes. She gets upset, she goes and finds a remote corner to cry, a grownup finds her. Today was no different. Except it wasn't who she was expecting.





	Drying Out

**Author's Note:**

> Original request: Little kid Alphys going to the garbage dump to cry and getting found by Royal Guard Captain Gerson

"That's not true!"

"It is, Alphys! Deal with it!"

"But... b-b-but I... *Sniff* I thought..."

"No you didn't, or you would have realised!"

Alphys could no longer see her debate opponent, and she really was wearing her glasses this time. There was a pale green blur in front of her who probably was looking pretty smug. And then the blur was behind her as she ran into the next cavern, breaking down into tears.

She must have bumped into a couple of other monsters, and indeed ran straight through a pink one who complained in a haughty scandalised tone, but she didn't care. What she wanted at that moment was to be alone. A hazy memory of a large manticore carrying a damp sack on his back sprang to mind. Collection must have been over for the day, so it would be a good place to go.

Her feet were soon as wet as her face, and remembering the nearby waterfall she forced herself to stop. Her glasses were a recent addition and they still felt odd on her snout, so she briefly pocketed them to dry her eyes. Even without their visual acuity it was clear she'd stopped well clear of the waterfall. It had been drilled into all the Waterfall children that something bad happened to those who fell into it. When she asked what would happen, nobody could answer, but nonetheless they were all convinced it was the case.

Not that she was in the mood to ponder it. The garbage piles were pretty large today. Keeping her glasses in her pocket, Alphys clambered over the tallest one. Or at least she tried, got tired and then clambered over one that was half its height. The pile turned out to be hollow, and at the bottom of its center. There was a plank of wood resting horizontally on assorted garbage, at a perfect level for her to sit on. Exactly what she needed. She started climbing down carefully, slipped, and tumbled the rest of the way, soaking her blue and yellow striped jumper. This was her cue to start sobbing in earnest. Not because she felt hurt or wet or cold, but because she felt stupid.

Alphys didn't know how long she spent there. Her funks often disengaged her ability to notice how much time had passed. But there was something comforting about wallowing in it, even if Catty would have said it was, like, totally not healthy to do that and that's how you get wrinkles. For someone only half her age, Catty was precocious. So was Bratty, come to think of it.

She had returned to the theme of how stupid she was for thinking she had been right when a hefty splashing and clanking noise echoed from afar. Oh. It was probably a grownup come looking for her. Would they know about the argument? It didn't matter, they were probably going to say she worried everyone, which probably wouldn't help with her mood. That crunch sounds like they were climbing the outside of the pile. Might as well wallow for a few seconds longer before the lecture starts...

"Heh! Now what have we here?"

The amusement in the quavery voice halted her tears. Rubbing her eyes fiercely she replaced her glasses, and looked up at her erstwhile rescuer. A single yellow eye looked down at her above a leathery beak full of crooked teeth as amused as his voice had been. All in a breastplate that just about managed to distract from the kahki shorts the old turtle was wearing.

"Oh. H-hello, Mister Gerson."

"Ha! That's 'Captain of the Royal Guard' Gerson to you, missy!"

Alphys pondered Gerson for a moment. The breastplate threatened to swallow him. "Um, aren't you a l-little old to be in the G-guard?"

"Wa ha ha! We've got a sharp cookie here! Yeah, just fillin' in. Doin' a favour for young Fluffybuns. Current Captain took a duvet day."

"Oh."

"My turn for a question. Whatcha doing down there? You'll catch a cold."

Alphys frowned. "Cold's a feeling, n-not an object. How do you catch it?"

"'s an old human expression, missy. A cold's what they call one of the more common ways they get sick."

"Oh, r-really?" The wallowing blanket of pity had been yanked off. "That sounds in-interesting, how do they get b-better-"

"Not here, girl. You need to dry off!"

"Oh, s-sorry."

She didn't resist as Gerson clambered down, picked her up and placed her on his shoulder. Even though he was barefoot the armour clanked with each step he took. Before long the clanking was all there was, no splashing. They were back on dry land.

"D-did the King order you to find me?"

"Nope! Just had a feelin' when I was on patrol. Why, should he have?"

"It's j-just, people worry when I go there to cry- I mean think about stuff, but they don't have to. I'm very careful."

"That's a good girl. You don't wanna fall and be like... be like... well..."

"Um, my house is that way."

"Might be, but _my_ house is right here!"

Alphys dipped her head slightly as they passed under the low door. A few items of food and drink were laid out on a bench, next to a mechanical register. They continued past this into a cavern where a bed, dinner table and few other pieces of furniture were bundled together. A magic fire burned before two worn looking armchairs.

"Right then, missy, can't bring you back while you're half soaked like this. I've got an old jumper from way back then. You change into it an' I'll hang this one up to dry.

After giving her the privacy to change her clothes, soon the two were sitting before the fire, Alphys fidgeting involuntarily as her borrowed green and yellow jumper felt strange.

"Everything alright, missy?"

"It's... thin. My j-jumper's a lot thicker. It almost feels like I'm c-can feel the back of the ch-chair through it."

"Ah. Well, it was made for fur, not scales. Some monsters don't need heavy layers to stay warm."

"Really? W-who was it for?"

"Oh, now _that's_ a story!" He laid back in his chair with a content smile.

"...um, ex-excuse me, but what's the story?"

"...hell if I can remember, but I know it's great."

Alphys laughed for the first time. "If y-you think it's great, it m-must be."

"Darn straight. Huh, something's missing."

"Really? What?"

"Most of you younguns who come up to me are always hollerin' 'Oh there's the Hammer of Justice, show us yer hammer!' 's definitely the reception I got yesterday, an' I obliged. Might've gone and inspired her to do somethin' stupid, but that's besides the point. You not interested in that?"

"Oh, I... I g-get enough of that in books I read."

The yellow eye widened slightly. "Didn't peg ya for a fan of books about hammers."

"N-no, not hammers specifically. But human history books!"

"Izzat right?"

"Oh y-yes. Some of them have stories about really large weapons and how humans attune to t-them with their souls. which would be really bad news for us if th-that's true because how could w-we beat a human that can use their soul like we can? Do y-you think they can do that?"

He shrugged. "Haven't a clue. Nothin' indicated that so far. Not that they ain't dangerous enough without magic."

"Oh, I h-hope I wasn't trying to say they weren't-"

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. Hey, mind if I ask you somethin'?"

"...why I was c-crying?"

"Thought you were thinkin'!"

"I was, I m-mean... Oh..."

"Wa ha ha! That was too easy!"

A dull orange flush built in Alphys' face. "You t-tricked me."

"Yep! I'm way too old to deny something like that! Now then, you wanna tell me what you was thinkin' about?"

Her annoyance melted into pity. "I had an argument w-with the junior assistant trainee school l-librarian about some of the human history books."

"She don't believe what they say?"

"No, she does! Well mostly, sh-she thinks one is a mangled r-retelling of a story another d-does way better."

"Welp, there's an outside chance I could give ya an inside view. What's the story."

"The one I think is real is about a human who gets into an argument with his step brother about a family thing and then a magic mask curses the step brother and they have to fight. But she thinks the correct one is about a human who learns a martial art with his step brother and the step brother wants to use it for evil and it makes the human really sad but it doesn't have the depth of the mask story but she said they look so similar and she thinks it might be trying to co-opt the martial art story for some reason and it's obvious how could I be so s-stupid to miss-"

"Woah, take a breath, kiddo!"

Alphys obeyed. The tears threatening to resume were kept in check. "Wh-which do you think is real?"

Gerson had a how-do-I-say-this look in his eye. "Kid... I gotta go with the martial art one. Human magic doesn't work through objects, they channel it direct."

"Oh... It's o-okay, I already knew I was wrong."

"Now now, nunna that!" An olive hand rested on her shoulder. "'s not like you coulda known. We all make mistakes. Oh I could tell ya about all sorts of hilariously embarrassin' mistakes I've seen down here, but I promised I'd never reveal that the King once sat on some paint and it seeped through his pants into his fur and he had to shave it off and all his pants itched for a month until it grew back. Wish I could tell ya, but a promise is a promise. There's a good girl, laugh it up! Just imagine what that story coulda been, I promise it was great!"

After a shared Sea Tea and two more stories Gerson explained in detail why he couldn't tell her, Alphys' original jumper was dry enough that she could return the green one. Gerson accompanied her home, deciding that he'd been AWOL long enough.

"Th-thanks for being honest with me, Mister G-gerson. It's hard, but I gotta face the truth sometimes."

"Good lesson, glad I knew to teach it to ya! But it won't always be easy. Someone might need to remind ya about it."

"Y-yeah. But that's for another day. I'm gonna finish my s-science project when I get home?"

"History and science? Your brain must be crammed. Whatcha workin' on?"

"Oh it's b-based on some paper I f-found near the w-waterfall, c-creating pocket dimensions to s-store stuff. It'll p-probably fail b-because I'm not sure if I've done the m-math right, but... um, are you okay?"

"...Sure, missy. Just... you ever feel like you focus on the wrong junk sometimes?"

"...n-not really."

"'kay. You do you."

**Author's Note:**

> Pastebin version: https://pastebin.com/fTfNKNm6
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
